The Lutheran Disaster Response Collegiate Corps (LDRCC) is a service ministry of the Lutheran Campus Ministry at WVU. Our vision is the establishment of a standing disaster response team staffed and largely administered by collegians. Trained, equipped, and ready to respond quickly to disasters in central Appalachia, these collegians will push the envelop of traditional Christian service in the campus ministry setting. Initial funding for the program has been underwritten by a $24,500 Youth Leadership Initiative grant from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.

Deployments to Date

+ Biloxi, MS (Spring Break '06)
+ Biloxi, MS (Summer '06)
+ Welch, WV (Fall '06)
+ Biloxi, MS (Spring Break '07)
+ Franklin, WV (Spring '07
+ Franklin, WV (Fall '07)
+ Busiris, OH (Fall '07)
+ New Orleans, LA (Spring Break '08)
+ Tennessee (Summer '08)
+ Lutherlyn, PA (Fall '08)
+ Franklin, WV (Fall '08)

What's Coming Next?

Recent ice storm damage in Kentucky coupled with a superabundance of volunteers in the Gulf Coast region at the time of our spring break have lead the cadre to change plans. Instead of deploying to New Orleans, the LDRCC will head for Kentucky.

Training has already included the CERT module on winter storms and a class room session on chain saw operations. A field exercise with chain saws is being scheduled--this is actually wind storm related. In addition, additional CERT modules will be covered at the Thursday meetings.

<>On-Line with LDRCC

<>

LDRCC has an on-line presence beyond this page. Feel to visit and/or join. If you are not on the WVU facebook network, you can visit and join our global LDRCC FaceBook Group.

This site is being redesigned. Much of the stuff that follows is archival. We will be updated with news about the past year throughout the summer. Please come back to check out what is happening and how you can get involved. If you are interested, please contact us at Disaster@LutheranMountaineer.org or call 304-296-5388.

Join us!

You can be a member of the disaster response team. Let us know if you are interested.

Recent (and not so recent) stuff...

Deployed to Franklin, WV, to work with habitat in November '08.
Chain saw training.
Informational / Recruiting booth at the Mountainlair

Alex Whitelam on New Orleans '08

Upon arrival to the work site on the first day, I was struck at how little had been done in the last 30 months. What was once a home now looked more like a skeleton picked by vultures. Strands of old fiberglass insulation hung from every possible stud, pipe, and fixture. The toilet and bath tubing were still filled with the water that had reached the ceiling fan from the flooding. Outside, the yard looked like a safari of unkempt shrubs, wild grass, and trash. Our task was heavy, but there was no way we going to back down.

As a team, we transferred that condemnable house into a foundation for which a new home could be built. In one week the eleven of us rebuilt the roof, cleaned the frame, and gave the yard a makeover fit for a white picket fence. This corner block house was ready for professionals to come in and finish the job. For the eleven of us, it was a job extremely well done.

What meant most for me, in the end, was to see the owner of the home regain all hope in restoring her childhood memories. What she thought may never happen, now was many steps closer in the process of restoring the house she grew up in. And, to see that reaction was priceless. To be a part of something that meaningful made all the long, brutally hot hours worth all the while. It was an experience I will never forget, and that is what makes the deployments of Lutheran Disaster Response so powerful.

Frankin Deployment '07

Biloxi Deployment '07

Biloxi Deployment '06

To read about our Biloxi Deployment (Spring Break '06), click here for the LDRCC Newsletter (May '06). To view our photo gallery, click here.

Support the Work

Are you interested in supporting the work of the LDRCC? You can. We accept four credit cards and quasi-cash donations through PayPal's on-line banking service. We also accept checks and cash. Material gifts, such as tools and equipment, require consultation with the Quartermaster. If you would like more information about donations in general, please visit the LCM@WVU's support page. If you are ready to make an on-line contribution, click

Thanks

Our thanks to the following people and organizations for their financial support.

+ The Family of The Rev. Ed Vogelsong (In memoria)
+ Members of Zion Lutheran Church, Wheeling, WV
+ Members of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Morgantown, WV
+ Marvin & Peg Riegel
+ Minnie & Donald Taylor
+ Laura Pfeifer

[ Return to LCM@WVU HomePage ]